# Cheetahs -- Can they interbreed with other big cats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheetahs-can-they-interbreed-with-other-big-cats/621938 "2012-05-14T23:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheetahs-can-they-interbreed-with-other-big-cats/621938/21 "2012-05-16T19:30:17Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Do cheetahs purr? > ~VOW > [@Tamerlane](#): > > [Apparently](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drq_ww7Ytzw). Holy cats. Now I totally want to pet a cheetah. And I really, really doubt there’s many Africans that keep cheetahs as housecats. They’re large, powerful animals, and well equipped to easily take out a human. I’d bet the frequency of Africans keeping cheetahs as housecats is about the same as the frequency of Americans keeping cheetahs as housecats - that is to say, small enough to be almost zero. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheetahs-can-they-interbreed-with-other-big-cats/621938/22 "2012-05-16T19:54:51Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Do cheetahs purr? > ~VOW > [@Tamerlane](#): > > [Apparently](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drq_ww7Ytzw). Apparantly they meow too. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qN8L9gXqc68/hqdefault.jpg "Cheetah Meowing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN8L9gXqc68) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheetahs-can-they-interbreed-with-other-big-cats/621938/23 "2012-05-16T20:05:29Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Holy cats. Now I totally want to pet a cheetah. Be sure to get one of those fancified [“King Cheetahs”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:King_cheetah.jpg) ;). > [@](#): > > I’d bet the frequency of Africans keeping cheetahs as housecats is about the same as the frequency of Americans keeping cheetahs as housecats - that is to say, small enough to be almost zero. I suspect you’re correct. They simply aren’t common enough these days to be…well…_common_ pets. But they are remarkably easy to tame relative to other wild cats and when they _were_ common, local nobility all over Africa and Asia kept them to course game. Another [appropos wiki-photo](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Tamed_Cheetah_Ancient_Egypt.jpg). If they weren’t so extraordinarily difficult to breed in captivity I suspect they would have been fully domesticated thousands of years ago and you could have gotten your wish. We’d probably have rescue programs the same as exist for ex-racing greyhounds today that would be begging for folks to adopt them. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheetahs-can-they-interbreed-with-other-big-cats/621938/24 "2012-05-17T16:15:18Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Cheetahs have enought trouble breeding amongst themselves. > > [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rare-breed.html](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rare-breed.html) I’ve long been a supporter of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Dr. Marker and her team are doing fantastic work to save these beautiful animals in the wild. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheetahs-can-they-interbreed-with-other-big-cats/621938.md?page=1)